King’s High site a ‘legacy’

Published:06:30Friday 02 December 2016

A development brief with three options has been created for old school buildings in Warwick’s town centre.

Warwick Independent Schools Foundation (WISF) is planning to move the King’s High School for Girls, which has more than 600 pupils, from its current location in the town centre to the foundation’s main campus at Myton Road, next to Warwick School.

King’s High School has been located in Warwick town centre site since it began in 1879.

The move, which was announced in September, is part of a £30million project by the foundation.

The plans for the school’s relocation includes creating a new main school building, a new shared music building, a new sixth form centre, new and improved sports pitches – including 4G and all-weather surfaces – will also be built at the site.

The foundation has estimated that it could take three years to complete the plans.

Work on the project would take place in two phases. The first would see the creation of the new King’s High School building with a school hall, dining room and shared sixth form centre with Warwick School. This would take two years, with completion scheduled for September 2019.

Work would then start on the improvements and extension to the sport centre and the new music centre.

Warwick District Council’s executive was faced with the development brief on Wednesday, which included three ‘masterplan’ options for the use of the current school site.

The first option includes all retained buildings, and all new buildings on the site being for residential use.

The second option proposes small businesses using the retained Old Borough School, which is on Chapel Row, and a hotel using Landor House, which is a Grade II-listed building.

The third option is the same as the first option, in terms of making all buildings residential, but also includes the provision of a care home, which would be adjacent to the existing sixth form building.

A development brief has been created by the foundation to help set the parameters for future development and to help provide a degree of certainty for any future applicants/developers in terms of development, land-uses, and the quality of design that will be expected as part of any redevelopment proposals.

Cllr Andrew Mobbs, leader of Warwick District Council, said: “This is a legacy site for the town of Warwick and does need to have the right quality design and enhance quite well too - and better - the tourism and footfall to local businesses. That is key.”

The executive put forward recommendations for the foundation to add to its development brief, which included 40 per cent affordable housing and sustainable transport options.